Obama Nominates Jane Chu As Head Of National Endowment For The Arts

FRANK RIZZO, frizzo@courant.comHartford Courant

Saints be praised. Prez Obama finally got around to nominating a candidate to head the National Endowment for the Arts.

After more than a year without a permanent head and more than two years since previous chairman Rocco Landesman indicated his intention to leave the agency, Obama has chosen a low-profile, Middle-America candidate whose specialty is in arts administration and fundraising.

Obama named Dr. Jane Chu, who has been president and CEO of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, MO since '06. She led the more than $300 million campaign for the center which opened in 2011.

She was also Fund Executive at Kauffman Fund for Kansas City and vice president of Community Investment for the Greater Kansas City Foundation. She has degrees in visual arts, piano performance and music education.

Chu’s appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. Until Cho is sworn in. Joan Shigekawa will continue to serve as the agency’s acting chairwoman, a position he held for 14 months.

The NEA's budget appropriation has fallen each year since 2010 at its recent peak of $167.5 million, when his Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives, which oversees appropriations. (It was about $170 million in the early ‘90s.) Funding is now $138.4 million.